Ahoy there history lovers! Welcome to part 2 of our deep dive into the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. In this episode, we finish up their story, and cover the different ways they are interpreted across history and in fictional media. Specifically, we discuss how Anne Bonny and Mary Read have been reinterpreted as symbols of feminism throughout the centuries, and also as queer icons in the modern day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Arne Zuidhoek. 2022. The Pirate Encyclopedia. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.

Canfield, Rob. 2001. “Something’s Mizzen: Anne Bonny, Mary Read, ‘Polly’, and Female Counter-Roles on the Imperialist Stage.” South Atlantic Review 66 (2): 45. https://doi.org/10.2307/3201868.

Evans, Tegan. 2024. “Enemies of All Mankind: Gender, Violence and the Queering of Anne Bonny and Mary Read.” Australian Feminist Law Journal 50 (1): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13200968.2024.2310315.

Johnson, Charles. 1724. A GENERAL HISTORY of the PYRATES, from Their First RISE and SETTLEMENT in the Island of Providence, to the Present Time. Pater-Noster-Row, London: Black-Boy.

National Library of Jamaica. 1721. The Tryals of Captain John Rackham and Other Pirates. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/the-tryals-of-captain-john-rackham.

Oppenheim, Maya. 2020. “Female Pirate Lovers Whose Story Was Ignored by Male Historians Immortalised with Statue.” The Independent. November 19, 2020. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-pirates-anne-bonny-mary-read-lgbt-statue-b1725018.html.

Park, Andy, and Clare O’Halloran. 2024. “Piracy in the Caribbean and the Tale of Mary Read.” ABC Listen. ABC Radio National. May 22, 2024. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/drawingroom/francesca-de-tores-saltblood-piracy-/103880692.

Rebecca Alexandra Simon. 2022. Pirate Queens. Pen and Sword History.

Rowan, Caroline. 1999. “Powerful on Land and Sea: An Analysis of History’s Attitude to the Lives and Careers of Two Female Pirates; Grainne Mhaol and Anne Bonny.” Thesis, Women’s Education, Research and Resource Centre, University College, Dublin. https://researchrepository.ul.ie/articles/thesis/Powerful_on_land_and_sea_an_analysis_of_history_s_attitude_to_the_lives_and_careers_of_two_female_pirates_Grainne_Mhaol_and_Anne_Bonny/19841401?file=35254234.

Vencel, Wendy. 2018. “Women at the Helm: Rewriting Maritime History through Female Pirate Identity and Agency.” Honours Thesis, Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection. https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ugtheses/452.

Thank you so much for listening! We’ll see you on the next one xoxo.